How Can Jojoba Oil Help Nourish Your Skin?

You’ve probably heard the term jojoba before, especially if you watch a lot of TV and have seen all of those shampoo commercials. It’s been a popular natural ingredient for many years due to its ability to lock in moisture without leaving behind that dreaded oily residue that other compounds do.

But jojoba uses go beyond just shampoos. Ancient peoples used it as a salve to heal wounds, ate the seeds to ward off hunger and injested the plant during pregnancy to assist with childbirth.

Nowadays, the oil is not only an essential component of soaps, lotions and other skin care products, it is also used as cooking oil, as a fungicide and even to lubricate engines. More recently scientists have investigated the possibility of jojoba oil as a source of biofuel. So you can see that there are endless uses for jojoba and the therapeutic oils the plant contains.

But for our purposes we are going to focus on how jojoba works to nourish and moisturize the skin…

Jojoba oil is extracted from the seed of a plant called Simmondsia chinensis which is a shrub native Mexico, California and Arizona. Although it starts off with a gold color and nutty odor, once it is refined it is colorless and odorless.

It’s interesting to note that it is not actually an oil, rather it is a liquid wax ester that is comparable to your own skin’s oils (sebum). That is one of the reasons why it is such a great moisturizer. When you apply it to your face, either on its own or as a component of a skin care product that you use, your body is tricked into producing less sebum on its own. So for people with naturally oily skin, or those with acne, jojoba oil can be a great natural solution.

Jojoba also contains a ton of healthy vitamins and minerals to nourish the skin, including vitamins B and E, selenium, zinc, chromium and iodine, among others. So you can reap the benefits of those nutrients as well.

As more research comes out supporting the benefits and efficacy of jojoba, more and more manufacturers are adding it to their products. You can find the liquid wax in moisturizers, conditioners, facial cleansers, acne gels, scar removers, foot/hand creams, after-sun products, shaving gels and more. The applications are really endless, as it can heal, nourish, moisturize and hydrate your hair and skin, without any of the potentially harsh side effects of chemicals often found in many of these products.

So the question is, should you use jojoba oil alone or alongside other natural ingredients when it comes to treating your skin? Well, you can go either way. Pure jojoba oil on its own, just like coconut oil and aloe vera, is a wonderful treatment. You just have to make sure you use the right amount and don’t overdo it. It’s often hard to gauge. It’s also hard to find the pure, good stuff. You don’t want to buy a subpar product that claims to be jojoba oil but is in fact some cheaper alternative with just a hint of real jojoba oil in it.

The other option is a skin care product with jojoba along with other helpful ingredients. These compounds can oftentimes work together to provide even more benefits, much like the vitamins and minerals in a multi-vitamin supplement. So if you can’t get your hands on the single ingredient product, opt for a high quality skin care product with jojoba and other great skin enhancers such as manuka honey, olive oil, shea butter and grapeseed oil.

These compounds offer their own skin health benefits that jojoba on its own might not.

So as you can see jojoba uses are truly endless. If you haven’t already tried it, give it a go and see how it can help moisturize and heal your skin today…naturally!